Different Dust Collection for router cabinet....

[Chris Friesen]

An example for the 3rd scenario is when using a straight bit and cutting dados. Here the chips have only one way to go, where the cut has just been made - out in front of the cut...to the left of the table.

I've seen some router tables where the insert has a hole cut in it such that the debris from dado/groove cuts travels a few inches and then gets sucked down through the insert. I suspect this would work better with the higher suction of a shopvac due to the small path for the air (which is only the size of the groove itself).

[Brad Sperr]

Great idea, Bill! I going to try and adapt your plan for my own router table enclosure. I have the older style Rout-r-lift (with the pre-drilled plate for mounting) and not the FX model, but it should work the same in principle.

[glenn bradley]

Out put is between the router plate and the floor of the port, so there should be nothing that gets though if the DC is turned on, in my case it is the shop vac.

Does this show it better?

Attachment 71566

Ah, a picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks!

[Jim O'Dell]

After being prodded by Bill because I didn't grasp his concept I have decided to modify my in progress router table to incorporate his idea on doing it updraft style instead of down draft as I had planned, and how I'd bet most everyone has always done it in the past. But I'm saying dirty words right now Bill! They're aimed at you! I'm having to cut 16" of the table support (3/4" oak veneer ply) with a sawsall blade wrapped in tape and paper towel,..... by hand!! I can't get a power tool in there to cut it. It will take a lot of filing when I'm through. Hopefully the angle grinder will help me there. Still need to go get an HVAC register boot to go on the side of the box.
Thanks for taking the time to PM me when I failed to look close enough at your design.....I think. Jim.

[Jim Kountz]

I built a similar table to the first version of Normies router table years ago when it came out in American Woodworker I think # 44. This was the version before the Rockler one. It has through the fence and down through the bit opening collection and it works great except when the fence is away from the cutter as in cutting a dado . Mine has a removable piece of lexan for a door and I have drilled several 1" holes in it for make up air and to help move the chips that fall down out through the dust port in the back. Decent concept but could be better.

[Bill Huber]

After being prodded by Bill because I didn't grasp his concept I have decided to modify my in progress router table to incorporate his idea on doing it updraft style instead of down draft as I had planned, and how I'd bet most everyone has always done it in the past. But I'm saying dirty words right now Bill! They're aimed at you! I'm having to cut 16" of the table support (3/4" oak veneer ply) with a sawsall blade wrapped in tape and paper towel,..... by hand!! I can't get a power tool in there to cut it. It will take a lot of filing when I'm through. Hopefully the angle grinder will help me there. Still need to go get an HVAC register boot to go on the side of the box.
Thanks for taking the time to PM me when I failed to look close enough at your design.....I think. Jim.

I found that my set up didn't work at all and I took it all out and went back to the normal way......




Just kidding......

It is working very well and I still do not have any dust in the motor.
I have found that the box area likes to have a lot of air, that is the more you shut the area off from the vac the more large chips that will fall into the box.
The router is what is blowing the chips down into the box, the exhaust that comes out of the top hits the plate and some of it you can feel blows out the bottom.

You should have called, I would have come over and helped. I don't live that far from you, I am just in Fort Worth on the north, just south of Haslet and 2 miles west of 35W.

[Bill Huber]

I built a similar table to the first version of Normies router table years ago when it came out in American Woodworker I think # 44. This was the version before the Rockler one. It has through the fence and down through the bit opening collection and it works great except when the fence is away from the cutter as in cutting a dado . Mine has a removable piece of lexan for a door and I have drilled several 1" holes in it for make up air and to help move the chips that fall down out through the dust port in the back. Decent concept but could be better.

But does all the dust that come down there get all over the router and is sucked up into it.
That was the problem I was working on, that dust is what got into the switch and I had to clean it all the time. Now when I used it out of the table it would never give me a problem. Let me put it in the table and it would fill the switch in no time. I do have the new switch now but all that dust can not be good for the motor.

[Jim Kountz]

But does all the dust that come down there get all over the router and is sucked up into it.

An honest guess would be 90% gets pulled away and into the DC but does it all get sucked up? No. I dont know that any system would get all if it. Some still falls on the router motor.

[Jim O'Dell]

Thanks for the offer, Bill. I was out most of the day today...didn't know when I would get to go to the shop. Ended up being after 4:00. I actually marked the slot last night. Failed to get the HVAC transition when I was at HD this morning. Not sure if I'll go after it tomorrow or not. May wait until Mon evening on the way home from work. 2 extra miles as opposed to 16 mile round trip. The only transition I can find that is 8" wide is 4" tall. I only need 2", so will block off some top and bottom to the plywood I will mount it to. That is roughly the same area that the 5" outlet has. My inlet at the bottom of the router chamber is a 6" hole, and I have a sliding gate so I can adjust how much air comes in so I can regulate the dust collection top and bottom to some degree. We'll see how it works.
Need to get together some weekend and tour each other's shops. I always like to steal ideas! Jim.

[Suanne Lippman]

I am not sure how that is done, do you cut part of the table out or what.

But where does all the dust go, does it go into a basic box under the router and does the router get just full of dust?

The dust all over the router is what I have cleared up, at this point I am not getting the dust on or in the router like I was with my old Bosch table.

I cut extra holes in the table insert to suck the dust in. With a DC, as opposed to a vacuum, you have to have a lot of openings to avoid choking it, but that is okay, and they pick up the dust.
I then have the DC connected to the side of the the router box. A little dust swirls around right on the bottom of the box, but the rest is pretty spotless.

The only thing I do unusual is having the hole under the fence rather than above the fence; a DC port on the router box is pretty routine; or so I think it is.

[Bill Huber]

Info on cutting the hole around the router lift or base.

What I did was to set the base on the floor without the router in it. I stood right over it and took a picture looking straight down on it.
Made some measurements for reference.
I then pulled it into the computer and sized it so the image was the same size as the lift. Printed it out, taped it to the masonite and then cut the hole a little larger all the way around.

[Bill Huber]

I cut extra holes in the table insert to suck the dust in. With a DC, as opposed to a vacuum, you have to have a lot of openings to avoid choking it, but that is okay, and they pick up the dust.
I then have the DC connected to the side of the the router box. A little dust swirls around right on the bottom of the box, but the rest is pretty spotless.

The only thing I do unusual is having the hole under the fence rather than above the fence; a DC port on the router box is pretty routine; or so I think it is.

You are correct, just about every router cabinet that I looked at had a port. The big difference in the way I am doing mine and the ones I saw is that the dust does not get sucked into the router at all.

[Brent Norrod]

Bill,

Thanks to the welcome. I saw your DC idea the other day, and thought, that's a really good idea. I am going to use it. The top of my router is wide open and it sucks in the dust !



My new Router Table is coming along. I am building a fence for it now. Working on prototype #2.

Cheers,
- Brent

[Alan Schwabacher]

I've been using a Bosch 1617EVS with its fixed base in a router table for about a year with the same sort of updraft DC you show. I also use a shopvac pulling through the fence sometimes, since a small fence opening works better with the greater suction but lower flow of the shopvac.

The only time I see any dust at all inside the cabinet is when I forget to turn on the DC. I don't have a door enclosing the router, which might help since a door could limit the airflow.

By the way, some of the air goes right through the router: it gets sucked in at the top (bottom while router is upside down) and blown out near the bit. Orienting the DC flow the same way helps keep chips out, particularly if you ensure that there's no pile of dust in the bottom of the cabinet to get sucked in.

[Jim O'Dell]

Bill et al, I've got my router table working, not finished. The up draft works... it realy works!! I used an 8 X 4" to 6" round HVAC component. Mounted it to the side of my router chamber that had a 2X8" opening (roughly the same area as the 6" pipe end). I get absolutely no dust in the bottom of the chamber, and I don't have the plate around the router as you do. So far I'm hooking up the fence pick up to the shop vac, and running both at the same time, as I haven't found a good way to get a 2 1/2" hose adapted to the 6" pipe yet. This may work better any way.
Anyway, wanted to let you know that your idea is a success here. Thanks for the information and prodding when I didn't fully understand what you were doing! Jim.